Pubdate: Wed, 11 Jan 2006
Source: Quesnel Cariboo Observer (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Quesnel Cariboo Observer
Contact: http://www.quesnelobserver.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1260
Author: Chris Buors
LEAVE DRUG USERS ALONE
Has John Goodman never heard the parable of The Fall? The moral of
the story is the forbidden fruit always tastes sweeter.
Further, the serpent is the truth-teller and emerges from the garden
a lot more powerful than when he got there. The Supreme Authority
punishes the tempted and not the tempter in the parable.
The government has also lied to us for our own good and plagued our
society with a never-ending parade of demon drug temptations for the
last 100 years. The regimentation of Canadians against periodic table
substances served up scapegoats, but did not solve any social
problems. Perhaps Mr. Goodman skipped school the day the failed
American noble experiment with alcohol prohibition was discussed.
There were no virtues when coercive force was applied to prevent the
lustful from engaging in gluttony then and the same prohibition laws
do not prevent the exuberance of youth from tasting whatever
forbidden fruits now.
Any farmer could brew alcohol and the youth merely dipped their
flasks in the old man's gin tub. The Salvation Army report noted they
went from dealing with drunks in the gutter to dealing with drunks in
the school yard. Then there was the horrific poisoning that blinded
and killed with bootleg booze. Anybody who can read on the Internet
can become a crystal meth cook.
Crystal meth has no problems associated with it when it is sold as
desoxyn at the pharmacy. There will be fewer children harmed if they
have access to drugs of a known purity. The pharmacist will be able
to mete out professional advice on safe use.
Mr. Goodman needs to consider the police have a vested interest in
maintaining drug prohibition. The police are experts on policing.
They have no special insight on social problems or economics.
Anthropologists and pharmacologists are the people we need to hear from.
Addicts are the medicalized version of lustful gluttons humanity has
considerable experience dealing with. Lustful gluttons need to
satisfy that lust or die trying.
Only they can control themselves and they do that when they decide
they are darn good and ready. Free will exists and addiction is a
myth that finds receptive ears in a society conditioned to believe in
demonic possessions.
Drugs have no supernatural powers of allurement. Drugs are inert and
people have all the moral turpitudes. Crack cocaine would cost the
same as coffee pound for pound on the free market. A lustful glutton
could steal something cheap or bum $5 and buy a kilo of it. How much
less crime would they have to resort to to get their fill?
Turn that $1,000-a-day habit into a $5-a-day habit. A couple of
ounces is all the worst of gluttons could use.
It is Mr. Goodman who needs to reconsider his support for prohibition
because his moral compass is askew. We have a natural right to
self-medicate. We have owned that right since time began. No man
would have the right to take away the medicine another free man was
using for whatever reason.
How is it we confer a power to the state that we do not ourselves have?
Temperance, prudence, justice and fortitude are the four cardinal
virtues. Drug prohibition has never lived up to a single one of them.
Wanting your drug free utopia so badly that you would willingly harm
another person by meting out a criminal record is vain glory defined.
Now that every draconian nonsensical ploy to save people from
themselves has been exhausted, perhaps we can try liberty.
Leave the drug users alone. That's the policy that worked for every
other scapegoat humanity has ever had.
Chris Buors
Winnipeg, Manitoba
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom